Hoquiam firefighter jobs temporarily preserved

The City of Hoquiam and Hoquiam Firefighters Local #315 have come to a tentative agreement to save local jobs.

On Tuesday, more than 80 people attended the Hoquiam City Council meeting with signs in support of the fire department which was recently notified that four of their employees were being let go as of today.

Hoquiam Finance Director Mike Folkers gave a presentation on the budget on Tuesday to start the meeting, and spoke on the decline of calls for the fire department, which is where the revenue for the department comes from and the reason the positions were being eliminated.

According to Doug Stankavich, President of the local union, discussions on Wednesday lasted from 10 am to after 5 pm and a tentative agreement was reached that would temporarily save the four local positions that were scheduled to be eliminated as of today.

With the agreement, Local #315 will be dropping their grievance with the city.

The agreement has yet to be ratified, and will be voted on by the union at their regular meeting on Tuesday.